TEMECULA: City, school district to split policing costs

Temecula will save roughly $300,000 in the coming fiscal year by reinstituting an abandoned cost-sharing deal to pay for school resource officers in the Temecula Valley Unified School District.

City Manager Aaron Adams said the city and the school district have agreed to split the cost of the five officers who patrol school campuses for 1,500 hours each year. The city has been paying all the costs for the officers since 2009.

“These savings will assist the city in absorbing the rising costs of our (Riverside County) Sheriff’s contract and maintaining such a public safety presence on school district property,” Adams said in an email response to questions. “We also look out five years as we are preparing an annual operating budget and such annual increases are critical to evaluate.”

Splitting the cost for the officers isn’t a new deal; the city and the school district shared the costs until 2009, at the height of the state budget crisis. The city took over the expense when the school district was facing multi-million dollar budget shortfalls.

The district at that time had seven resource officers, but had been prepared to drop to as few as three to save money. The city, which had been paying for four of the seven officers, agreed to pay for five officers in 2009-2010, and has continued to do so until now.

School district officials agreed to share the costs with the city again because they do not want to cut back on officers, district spokeswoman Melanie Norton said.

“Five is about the minimum we can get by with and afford,” she said. “What we have now is the minimum.”

The school district’s budget for 2013-14 is still being developed and though uncertainty remains about funding for next year, officials want to ensure the policing program continues. The district’s share of the costs, about $300,000, will come from the general fund, which is used for ongoing operating expenses such as teacher salaries.

Adams said the cost-sharing agreement will help offset a 4.5 percent increase to the city’s public safety costs, which were $22 million this fiscal year. Even with the school district’s help, the city is expecting to pay about 3.24 percent more for police, Adams said.